Sextus Propertius

Roman poet

• Born: c. 57-48 b.c.e.
• Birthplace: Asisium (now Assisi, Umbria, Italy)
• Died: c. 16 b.c.e. -2 c.e.
• Place of death: Rome (now in Italy)

Sextus Propertius expanded the scope and power of the Roman love poem in the passionate poems to and about Cynthia.

Early Life

Sextus Propertius (proh-PUR-shuhs) was born between 57 and 48 b.c.e. in Umbria, in the small town of Assisi. He was the son of a knight who was a well-off landowner. Propertius’s father died while Propertius was still a child, and his world was further dislocated by the appropriation of land in Umbria to settle the soldiers of Marc Antony and Octavian (later known as Augustus).

Propertius grew up under the shadow of the continuing civil wars among Antony, Octavian, and Pompey the Younger—and the early consolidation of power by Augustus. His first book of poems was published about 30 b.c.e., and it attracted the attention of Gaius Maecenas, the patron of Vergil and Horace. This support improved Propertius’s financial situation, but he continued to refuse to write poems in celebration of Augustus.

Life’s Work

Propertius’s poetry came at the end of the great period of the Roman love poem. His work does not have the passion of Catullus or the polish of Horace, but it does have a complexity and an intensity not found in the poetry of his predecessors. Some critics have complained about Propertius’s heavy use of myth, but the allusions in his poetry are well employed—especially the contrasting of the distant gods to the immediate relationship with a woman he called Cynthia.

Propertius’s poetry survives in four books. At the heart of the poems are those on Cynthia, and while commentators have been unsuccessful in discovering an autobiographical sequence, the poems do give one of the fullest portrayals of an intense relationship in all literature. The first poem (book 1, elegy 1) immediately evokes this intensity: “She was the one to enslave me, and she did it with her eyes;/ till then I’d never felt love’s poison arrows.”

For Propertius, love is not a pleasant or a sentimental state but a terrible visitation and a loss of control. He contrasts his subject state to mythic figures and urges the powers of love to visit his mistress with the same poison. The poem shifts at the end, as Propertius becomes adviser rather than victim and warns his friends to avoid this sorry state of unrequited love by sticking “to your own love.”

In the poems that follow, Propertius frequently complains about Cynthia’s mistreatment, yet in book 1, elegy 7, the poet defends his choice of the love poem over the more traditional and valued epic. Propertius’s poems are his “life’s work” and come from bitter and joyful experience, while the epic of one Ponticus—according to Propertius—is straight out of books. Propertius writes that when Ponticus falls in love, in vain he will try to turn his hand to love poems, while Propertius will be celebrated as “the greatest poet of them all.”

In book 1, elegies 21 and 22, Propertius addresses war, not love. The speaker in elegy 21 is a dead man who advises a fleeing soldier. The dead man urges the soldier not to be brave but to “Save yourself/ and bring your parents joy.” He also asks the soldier to bring a message of “tears” to his sister. The poem ends ironically, for the dead man was also a soldier and had escaped “the swords of Caesar,” only to fall to robbers. It is a personal and a political poem; it evokes the sorrow of the dead soldier and points unmistakably to its cause, the wars of Antony and Octavian.

Elegy 22 is also a political poem. It begins with a question from a man named Tullus about Propertius’s origins. The answer is that he comes from “the graveyard of our fatherland/ when civil war set Roman against Roman. . . .” Once more he evokes a landscape littered with “my kinsman’s bones” but ends with an opposite image, life and birth: “where the fertile plain touches the foothills/ Umbria gave me birth.”

The first poem in book 2 is addressed not to Cynthia but to Propertius’s patron, Maecenas. Once more, he contrasts the supposedly trivial love poem to the great epic, but because Cynthia is his inspiration “each trivial incident begets/ a mighty saga.” Even if he had the power to write an epic, he would avoid the usual subjects, because they are all clichés. If he had the power he would write about “your Caesar’s wars” (another example of the distancing of the poet from the emperor). Yet he has no such power or ability; he can only write “of the battles I fight in bed.” The poem ends in an amusing fashion, as Propertius asks Maecenas to visit his obscure tomb, drop a tear, observe the burial rites, and say, “Here lies one for whom destiny/ Was a Cruel mistress.” As the poems show, Propertius’s destiny was a cruel mistress, Cynthia.

Most of the poems in book 2 complain about Cynthia’s ways or lack of faithfulness. Elegy 5 is the most interesting of these. It begins with a series of accusations as Cynthia is called a “whore” and the poet looks forward to following her example and acquiring a new love. The focus of the poem shifts, however, as Propertius looks not to the future but to past moments they shared like “tender sacraments.” He then lists all the brutal things he will not do to her; he will, instead, “mark” her with his poetic curse that will last to her dying day.

Book 2, elegy 7, speaks of a more tender relationship between the poet and Cynthia as well as of the complex relationship he has with Augustus. It begins with relief that some “law” was not put into operation by Augustus that would separate the poet and his beloved. The relief is tinged with defiance, as the poet declares that “mighty Caesar cannot conquer love.” Nor is the poet a fit candidate to be a husband or a breeder of sons for Rome; the only war he will fight is in the name of his mistress. The last lines of the poem are an affirmation of the poet’s love, “which is greater to me than the name of father.”

In book 2, elegy 10, Propertius seems to have reversed his earlier position and now wishes to sing of “war and war’s alarms,” because “Cynthia’s song is sung.” By the end of the poem, however, he sees poems about war as beyond his reach, like a statue that “towers too high.” He will, instead, write of and from the lower strain of love. Propertius is very clever in praising Augustus, but, finally, he relocates his art in a private rather than a public arena.

Elegy 34, the last poem in book 2, brings together many of the themes of the earlier poems. It is addressed to another poet, Lynceus, who has attempted to steal the poet’s beloved. Lynceus is identified as a student of the “Socratic books,” but they will be of no help to a man in love—nor will the usual epic themes. Lynceus must make himself into a love poet in the manner of Propertius if he wishes to succeed. The second section contrasts Propertius’s poems with the political and nationalistic ones of Vergil and the pastoral ones of Lynceus. In the end, however, the epic and pastoral poets are left behind, as Propertius places himself in the line of Catullus and Calvus. If he is allowed to join that company, both he and Cynthia will live forever. So the poem is both a disguised love poem that praises Cynthia and a defense of lyric poetry against the epic and the pastoral.

Book 3 continues the themes of Cynthia and the championing of the love poem over the epic. Elegy 4, however, seems to be a surrender to the claims of Rome. The poem praises the new victories of Augustus against the Parthians. Propertius even prays to see “the wheels of Caesar heaped with the spoils of war.” However, where will the poet be while this triumph is celebrated? He will be lying in his “sweetheart’s arms watching the sights” rather than taking an active role or even writing about war. The last two lines define the difference between the two areas: “Let those who earned it bear the spoil away,/ and leave me to stand and cheer on the Sacred Way.” The role of the poet is to sing and cheer, not to take part in public life.

Elegy 11 deals with the power that women have over men. It begins with Propertius speaking of his bondage to Cynthia and asserting that it should be no “surprise.” He cites Medea and others as examples of this same situation, but the main comparison is to Cleopatra VII. She has “brought into disrepute” the “walls of Rome” and made senators slaves. According to Propertius, however, Augustus was not awed by this woman and has recently defeated and destroyed her; the poet sings out “your triumph, Rome” over these forces. The subjection to women that seemed to be universal at the beginning is now broken, and the poet tells the reader to “remember Caesar.”

Elegy 22 also discusses Rome but from a more personal perspective. It is addressed to Tullus, who has been roaming among the various wonders of the world. After listing those exotic sights, however, the poet reminds Tullus that “all the wonders of the world/ are not a patch on Rome.” Not only is Rome victorious, it is also free from the crimes and vices common in other places. So Tullus is welcomed back to a Rome that is “worthy of your eloquence,” where children and “a wife to match your love” await. It is clearly a Rome in which there is no mention of Cynthia and her destructive passion.

Book 4 also begins with a celebration of Rome, in the first elegy. A “stranger” is invited to look around at “the grandeur of Rome.” He is reminded of Roman history and myth from Romulus and Remus through the founding of Rome by the Trojans, as the poet offers up his song “to the service of my country.” He imagines his homeland, Umbria, now proud as the birthplace of “Rome’s Callimachus.” In the second part of the poem, however, Horus, a god of time and an astrologer, appears and criticizes Propertius’s new project. He tells him that he should be fashioning love poems to “provide a model for the scribbling mob,” since Apollo “banned you from thundering in the frantic forum.” Propertius’s fate is Cynthia and the creation of poems about her: “It’s she who tells you whether it’s day or night;/ your teardrops fall at her command.”

In book 4, elegy 6, however, Propertius returns to the subject of Augustus’s wars. After listing the triumphs of his emperor, the poet focuses on the victory over Cleopatra that has made Augustus into a god. There is one more poem on Cynthia in book 4. It speaks of her as a ghost who is “very much alive,” snapping her fingers at the poet and ordering him around. She accuses him of not attending her funeral and of sleeping soon after her death. She has come, however, not to accuse but to bring information about the underworld and to instruct the poet. She tells him, first, to burn all the poems he has written about her and to place “this poem” on her tombstone: “Here in the fields of Tivoli/ Lies golden Cynthia/ Adding a new glory/ To the banks of the Anio.” She then leaves him to other women until they can be reunited in the afterlife. It is a fitting end to the sequence.

Significance

The poems of Sextus Propertius portray the growth, flowering, decay, and death of an intense love relationship with the elusive Cynthia. From the very first, it is seen as an unconquerable obsession. There are moments of union between the two, but, for the most part, he complains about her neglect and unfaithfulness. The Cynthia sequence can be compared to the one dealing with Lesbia in the poems of Catullus. Catullus goes through a similar wrenching experience of hate and love that defines his existence.

There is, however, another side to the poetry of Propertius. He accepted the patronage of Maecenas, but he did not become an official spokesman for Augustus, as Vergil and Horace did. Instead, he defended his right to a private life and a private art, the love poem. The tension created by the struggle to remain free without insulting the emperor gives another dimension to the passionate love poems and adds subtlety to their structure.

Bibliography

Highet, Gilbert. Poets in a Landscape. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1979. Contains an evocative discussion of Propertius and other Roman poets that concentrates on the poets’ biographies and societies. Well written, providing background information but no interpretation.

Janan, Micaela Wakil. The Politics of Desire: Propertius IV. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. Reassesses Propertius’s last elegies using psychoanalytic theory. Includes bibliography and index.

Luck, G. The Latin Love Elegy. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1981. A useful study of some of the techniques and concerns of the Roman love poem. It is quite good on the literary tradition but not much of a guide to individual poems.

Propertius, Sextus. The Poems of Propertius. Edited by Ronald Musker. London: J. W. Dent, 1972. A brief and adequate introduction to the poetry of Propertius, with an excellent translation. Good introduction to Propertius for readers without knowledge of Latin.

Stahl, Hans-Peter. Propertius: Love and War, Individual and State Under Augustus. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. A superb study of Propertius’s ambiguous relationship with Augustus and the themes of love and war. It is written primarily for an academic audience, but other readers will find it clear and informative.

Williams, Gordon. Tradition and Originality in Roman Poetry. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. A scholarly treatment of many aspects of Propertius’s thought and interests. The book is very good on the background and tradition of the poems but assumes knowledge of Latin.